An ultrasonic imaging apparatus may radiate an ultrasonic signal toward a target area inside a body from a body surface of an object and obtain a tomogram of a soft tissue or an image of a blood flow in a non-invasive manner using information on a reflected ultrasonic signal (ultrasonic echo signal).
Ultrasonic imaging apparatuses are advantageous, because they are small, cheap, can display images in real time, and are very safe due to no exposure to X-rays, compared to other image diagnostic apparatuses such as X-ray diagnostic apparatuses, X-ray computerized tomography (CT) scanners, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) apparatuses, and nuclear medicine diagnostic apparatuses, etc. Therefore, the ultrasonic imaging apparatuses are being widely used for heart, abdomen, urinary tract, and ob/gyn diagnoses.
In general, an ultrasonic imaging apparatus transmits an ultrasonic signal to the object in order to obtain an ultrasonic image of the object, and includes an ultrasonic probe for receiving an ultrasonic echo signal reflected from the object and a main device for generating interior images of the object using the ultrasonic echo signal received from the ultrasonic probe.